ISIS in Jerusalem

Sunday, June 28, 2015 |
Israel Today Staff

Flyers made their appearance in the North Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Thursday last week, signed by the "ISIS in Palestine" organization, with threats against Arab Christians of the area. Christians are threatened with slaughter if they do not evacuate the area by Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. The flyer went on to say that one month is enough time and warning for Christians to flee the area to avoid a massacre.

The news of the flyers spread quickly amongst the Arabs in Israel on social networks. Some expressing doubts at the authenticity of the flyers while others took the warning seriously. There are groups of Arabs, both christian and Muslim, that either do or don't believe that there is an active branch of ISIS in Jerusalem. One local Arab, on condition of anonymity, said to Israel Today that, "it may simply be an attempt to intimidate local Christians. I do not fear. We are here in Israel, I do not think that Israel will allow that," he added.

That there are supporters of the brutal terrorist group among Israeli and Palestinian Muslims, has long been known. Just recently a family with three children, including the youngest only 18 months old, from Sakhnin in the north left the country to join ISIS in Syria. There have been other instances of Israeli Arabs that have joined ISIS in Syria and some have been killed in skirmishes there.

In Gaza there have been regular clashes between ISIS supported Salafists and Hamas. The latest rockets that have been fired into Israel from Gaza are believed to have been the work of this group. Observers believe that this was one of the stimuli for Hamas to engage in talks with Israel. Read more about the secret ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in the current issue of Israel Today Magazine!

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